JPS6381074A - Recording ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain excellent heat resistance and durability, by providing a resistor layer and a conductor layer on one side thereof, and composing the resistor layer of a thin metallic film having a predetermined thickness. CONSTITUTION:A resistor layer 11 is provided in a film form with a predetermined thickness by using a thin metallic film such as a metallic foil, and the resistance thereof is selected to be an appropriate value in the range of several ten to several thousand ohms. A metallic conductor layer 12 is provided on the resistor layer 11. The layer 12 is formed of a material having a low resistance of about zero to several ohms, e.g., aluminum. When an electric current is passed from an electrode of a printing head to the resistor layer 11 of a ribbon 10, a part of the layer corresponding to the electrode generates heat in a minute spot pattern, whereby a corresponding part of a paper is thermally changed, and is turned black in a minute spot pattern. Thus, a dot for constituting a character, a figure or the like is formed on the paper, and the character in a dot matrix form constituted of a collection of the dots is printed. Since the resistor layer is constituted of the thin metallic film having excellent heat resistance, change of properties or deterioration will not be caused by heat, and durability is greatly enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to a recording ribbon that is applied to a dot printer or the like that prints on paper using a thermal method.

Conventional technology Thermal printers are low noise and easy to maintain, have a simple structure and can be easily miniaturized, and the printed characters are also heat resistant, light resistant, water resistant, chemical resistant, etc. These features have made it popular recently.

In conventional thermal printers, the print head itself generates heat, which consumes a considerable amount of heat. At the same time, the heat also diffuses into the ribbon substrate, so the transfer efficiency depends on the thickness of the substrate. There was a problem with thermal efficiency, such as

Therefore, as a technique to solve such problems, the printing ribbon itself is made into a suitable resistor, and a current is passed through the resistor in a very small part corresponding to the position to be printed to generate heat, and the coating is applied to that part. A method has been proposed in which the ink is melted and transferred to paper. Conventionally, the recording ribbon used in the transfer type printer has a resistive layer 1, a metal conductive layer 2, and a release layer 3 formed from above as shown in FIG. An ink layer 4 having a thickness of about 4 to 5 μm was provided. When the resistance layer 1 is energized through the electrodes of a print head (not shown), a small portion corresponding to the printing position generates heat, melting the ink in the ink layer 4, reducing its shear strength, and transferring it to the paper. . At that time, the conductive layer 2 becomes a path for electrode current.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the recording ribbons that have been proposed so far have a disadvantage in that they have extremely high running costs during use and lack marketability in terms of price. Additionally, the adhesion of the ink layer heated through the resistive layer to the paper fibers depends on the printhead pressure and the maximum temperature of the partially melted ink, and the size of the printed dots also depends on the ink. Since it is related to temperature, it is essential to control and manage the ink temperature in order to obtain good print quality, and handling is extremely troublesome. Furthermore, since it is necessary to form an ink layer, the manufacturing process is accordingly complicated. Therefore, the present applicant focused on this point and developed a recording ribbon having a membrane structure without an ink layer, consisting of a resistive layer and a conductive layer formed on one surface of the recording ribbon, and proposed it previously (specially (Gan Sho 61-153777)
. According to this, the film structure is simple because an ink layer is not required. Therefore, there is no need to control the ink temperature,
Easy to handle. Furthermore, since no ink is required, the unit price per sheet of paper during use is lower than that of conventional recording ribbons, resulting in a significant reduction in running costs. Therefore, the problems of conventionally proposed recording ribbons are almost completely improved and eliminated.

However, in this type of recording ribbon, if a plastic resin material such as polycarbonate is selected as the resistance layer, if electricity is repeatedly applied and heat is generated many times, the resistance will decrease because the plastic material does not have very good heat resistance and is sensitive to heat. The layer may deteriorate and deteriorate rapidly. As a result, the resistive layer no longer performs its original function as a resistive layer, resulting in deterioration in print quality and eventually becoming unusable. Therefore, in this type of recording ribbon, it is important to particularly increase the heat resistance of the resistance layer and improve its durability.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording ribbon having a two-layer film structure that is resistant to heat and has excellent heat resistance and durability.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention consists of a resistive layer and a conductive layer formed on one surface of the resistive layer. We adopted a configuration in which heat is generated locally.

Function: The recording ribbon of the present invention has a two-layer structure consisting of a resistive layer and a conductive layer, and the resistive layer is formed of a metal thin film.
It is strong against heat and has excellent heat resistance. Therefore, even if the resistive layer is repeatedly energized and heated many times, the resistance layer will not change in quality or deteriorate due to the heat. As a result, good print quality is maintained over a long period of time, and the durability of the recording ribbon is greatly improved.

During printing, when electricity is applied to the resistive layer through the electrodes of the print head, heat is generated locally in the area corresponding to the printing, and that heat thermally changes a correspondingly small portion of paper such as thermal paper. This forms the letters. That is, in the recording ribbon of the present invention, the ribbon itself generates heat, and characters can be formed using the heat generated even without ink. that time,
Since the resistance layer is formed of a metal thin film, it can sufficiently withstand repeated energization and heat generation over a long period of time.Examples of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing a cross section of the recording ribbon according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the recording ribbon according to the present invention in a wound state.

The recording ribbon 10 is constructed by forming a metal conductive layer 12 on one surface of a resistance layer 11 made of a resistor.

The resistance layer 11 is formed of a metal thin film such as metal foil and has a predetermined thickness. The resistance value is selected to be a desired value in the range of tens to thousands of ohms. A metal conductive layer 12 is then formed thereon.

For example, the material forming the conductive layer 12 has a resistance value of 0.
A material with a low resistance value of approximately several ohms, such as aluminum, is used. This conductive layer is formed by vapor depositing aluminum, but the method for forming the film is not limited to vapor deposition.

The thickness of the resistance layer 11 is selected to be about 16 t1m,
Sushi is not necessarily limited to this. This film thickness is determined according to the resistance value in relation to the amount of heat generated. That is, when the resistance value is large, less current is required to be passed, so the film thickness is thin, and when the resistance value is small, it is necessary to increase the current to be passed, so the film thickness needs to be thick. However, if this film thickness is too large, when heat is generated, the surface (
The spots that appear on the paper side) become larger or distorted, and the clarity of printed characters etc. deteriorates. Therefore, it is desirable to make the resistance layer 11 as thin as possible, but in short, it should be as thick as possible to transfer the heat to the paper in minute spots and produce good thermal changes when it generates heat due to energization. Good. A metal conductive layer 12 is formed on this resistance layer 11 with a very thin film thickness. This metal conductive layer 12 serves as a ground path for electrode current.

The recording ribbon 10 formed as described above is peeled off from the base film and wound up as shown in FIG.
Ribbon cartridges (trimmed to specified width and length)
(not shown) during printing, the recording ribbon 10
is interposed between the paper and the print head (none of which are shown).

Then, the resistive layer 11 of the ribbon 10 is connected to the electrode of the print head.
When a current is applied to the paper, the portion corresponding to the electrode generates a very small amount of heat locally, that is, heat is generated in the form of minute points, and the heat is transferred to the paper. This heat thermally changes a correspondingly small portion of the paper. Specifically, the corresponding area turns black in the form of minute scratches. As a result, dots forming characters, figures, etc. are formed on the paper. A set of dots formed in this manner prints characters arranged in a dot matrix.

The recording ribbon 10 of this embodiment has a structure in which the recording ribbon itself generates heat when an electric current is applied, and the corresponding part of the paper is thermally changed by this heat, thereby forming dots, unlike the conventional ribbon structure. There is no need for an ink layer or a release layer for adhering it. Therefore, the membrane structure is extremely simple and manufacturing is accordingly easy. Further, as a matter of course, there is no need for troublesome control and management of ink temperature as in the conventional structure, so handling is easy.

Furthermore, since the recording ribbon 10 of this embodiment has the resistive layer 11 made of a metal thin film, even if the resistive layer 11 is repeatedly energized and heated many times over a long period of time, the resistive layer 11 will not change in quality or deteriorate due to the heat. There is no such thing. Therefore, durability is greatly improved.

As the paper to which this recording ribbon 10 is applied, for example, thermal paper is used. When actually printing with this ribbon structure using this thermal paper, it is possible to print at a very high speed, about 10 times faster than conventional paper (using a thermal head), and to print clearly. Printing is now possible.

Note that since the recording ribbon 10 of this embodiment does not have a structure for transferring ink, it can be used repeatedly. At this time, heat resistance and durability are increased by improving the resistance layer 11, so that the printing quality can be maintained even after repeated use over a long period of time (1).

Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the ribbon structure of the present invention,
Since the resistance layer is made of a metal thin film that is resistant to heat and has excellent heat resistance, the durability of the recording ribbon is greatly improved because it does not deteriorate due to heat. Therefore, it can withstand repeated use many times over a long period of time without degrading or deteriorating print quality, and can extend its life.

Therefore, it will greatly contribute to the practical application of current-carrying printers.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged perspective view of a recording ribbon according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the recording ribbon in a wound state, and FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing the conventional recording ribbon in cross section. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Recording ribbon, 11... Resistive layer, 11... Conductive layer. Patent applicant: NEC Home Electronics = 11
- Rough engraving of drawings (no changes to content) 15;. 83 Figure 2 Procedural amendment (method) % formula % 2, Ribbon for recording the name of the invention 3, Person making the amendment 3, Drawings to be amended (the contents of Figures 1 and 2 are unchanged) 7, Contents of correction

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Consisting of a resistance layer made of a resistor and a conductive layer formed on one surface of the resistance layer, the resistance layer is formed of a metal thin film of a predetermined thickness, and the resistance layer is configured to locally generate heat when energized. A recording ribbon characterized by: (2) A thin conductive layer is formed by aluminum vapor deposition on one surface of the resistive layer having an appropriate resistance value, and serves as a grounding path for electrode current during printing. The recording ribbon described in item (1). (3) According to claim (1), the local heat generation of the resistive layer causes a thermal change in recording paper such as thermal paper to form dots. Recording ribbon.